"Hi, I'm unavailable right now, but if you leave a message... click"

I hate leaving voicemail messages. More often than not I'll call the next person on my call sheet. If I'm trying to buy something, your competitor just got my business. Which sucks, I called you first because you were my favourite.

It turns out I'm not alone. Over 75%* of callers don't bother to leave a message. If they can't speak to a person at your business, they speak to someone at your competitor's. I dread to think about how many customers I've lost to my voicemail.

This makes for an impossible conundrum.

You can’t be available all of the time, especially when you’re just starting out. Though, at the same time, you really can’t afford to miss a customer.

This isn’t a new problem, it’s been solved many times over. The problem is the current solutions are quite expensive and cumbersome. So after a couple of frustrating conversations with other providers, my business partner and I decided to just build a solution ourselves.

We built out a tech platform that allows us to provide the same level of service but without the massive infrastructure costs associated with the traditional guys. It’s crowdsourcing for your business phone.

When a call comes in, it’s answered by one of our fully vetted and professional local receptionists. They answer your FAQs and can even book your appointments as if they were a receptionist sitting in your own office. Because we don’t have the overhead of large offices and staff members on site, you only pay for what you use.

If you need a mailing address, the same thing applies, you select an available mailing address and any mail that arrives gets scanned in and sent to your email (any packages or important documents can be forwarded directly to you).

It makes business simple, transparent and affordable and means that you never have to worry about losing another sale to voicemail.

So if you’re wondering how you can stay on top when starting out, have your people call our people.

*KAS Call Survey 2013

Guest Post via Jessica Glenn